Education

Gables High student places first in youth entrepreneurship challenge

By Adrianne Richardson
Richard Smithies of Coral Gables High School placed first in the South Florida Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge for his business called Helios Mining. He is pictured, center, with Senior Director Jeannine Schloss, left, and Advisory Board Member Richard Jackson.
Richard Smithies of Coral Gables High School placed first in the South Florida Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge for his business called Helios Mining. He is pictured, center, with Senior Director Jeannine Schloss, left, and Advisory Board Member Richard Jackson.

Richard Smithies, a student at Coral Gables High School, won $1,500 after placing first in the South Florida Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Regional Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge for his business venture, Helios Mining.

The NFTE is a nonprofit that aims to encourage young people to have an entrepreneurial mind-set, which includes innovation, self-reliance, risk taking, communication, and problem-solving skills, to prepare them for success. The South Florida competition included students that completed the NFTE’s entrepreneurship class.

Richard’s business, Helios Mining, uses solar panels to mine Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to increase profits while remaining environmentally friendly. He will compete in the 2018 National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge this fall, in New York City, for a chance to win $25,000.

The Miami Bayside Foundation recently awarded 42 city of Miami students with $1,000 scholarships for their academic achievements and community service. The scholarship winners, pictured, include Flor Santana, Gina Martinez, Heidi Perez-Moreno, Jasmine Zayas, Kayla Vidal, Lisandro Roche-Montero, Abdallah Joudeh, Jacob Garcia, John Clement, Juliana Lievano, Margaret Farrell, Taneacha Brown, Laura Mejia, Mayuris Palacios, Claudia Teran, Elba Garcia, Rachel Salmeron, Anquivian Jones, Dakayla Hester, Geisel Dieguez, Irenna Hines, Kateria Davis, Kiona Collins, Lamyra Thompson, Mellia Mckenzie, Nekesha Obas, Quentyn Harvey, Regine Hamilton, Sergine Jean Baptiste, Tatyana Fremont, Tauheeda Huggins, Tayloria Napier, Vicky Santiesteban, Wilnie Delone, Winy Victor, Yeilin Montes, Telkevia Mackey, Eveul Exil Jr., Deborah Cyrille, Tanahiry Machuca-Torres, Destiny Dought and Chimene Jean Jacques.
The Miami Bayside Foundation recently awarded 42 city of Miami students with $1,000 scholarships for their academic achievements and community service. The scholarship winners, pictured, include Flor Santana, Gina Martinez, Heidi Perez-Moreno, Jasmine Zayas, Kayla Vidal, Lisandro Roche-Montero, Abdallah Joudeh, Jacob Garcia, John Clement, Juliana Lievano, Margaret Farrell, Taneacha Brown, Laura Mejia, Mayuris Palacios, Claudia Teran, Elba Garcia, Rachel Salmeron, Anquivian Jones, Dakayla Hester, Geisel Dieguez, Irenna Hines, Kateria Davis, Kiona Collins, Lamyra Thompson, Mellia Mckenzie, Nekesha Obas, Quentyn Harvey, Regine Hamilton, Sergine Jean Baptiste, Tatyana Fremont, Tauheeda Huggins, Tayloria Napier, Vicky Santiesteban, Wilnie Delone, Winy Victor, Yeilin Montes, Telkevia Mackey, Eveul Exil Jr., Deborah Cyrille, Tanahiry Machuca-Torres, Destiny Dought and Chimene Jean Jacques.

Miami Bayside Foundation

The Miami Bayside Foundation awarded $1,000 scholarships to 42 students in the city of Miami, during a recent City Hall meeting.

The Miami Bayside Foundation, a nonprofit that aims to promote economic development in the city, selected the students based on their academic achievements and community service. Scholarship winners included Flor Santana, Gina Martinez, Heidi Perez-Moreno, Jasmine Zayas, Kayla Vidal, Lisandro Roche-Montero, Abdallah Joudeh, Jacob Garcia, John Clement, Juliana Lievano, Margaret Farrell, Taneacha Brown, Laura Mejia, Mayuris Palacios, Claudia Teran, Elba Garcia, Rachel Salmeron, Anquivian Jones, Dakayla Hester, Geisel Dieguez, Irenna Hines, Kateria Davis, Kiona Collins, Lamyra Thompson, Mellia Mckenzie, Nekesha Obas, Quentyn Harvey, Regine Hamilton, Sergine Jean Baptiste, Tatyana Fremont, Tauheeda Huggins, Tayloria Napier, Vicky Santiesteban, Wilnie Delone, Winy Victor, Yeilin Montes, Telkevia Mackey, Eveul Exil Jr., Deborah Cyrille, Tanahiry Machuca-Torres, Destiny Dought and Chimene Jean Jacques.

“We are honored to be able to support the academic pursuits of these exceptional students. They represent the future of the city of Miami,” said Kathleen Murphy, executive director of the Miami Bayside Foundation.

The Van Alen Institute

The Van Alen Institute is joining forces with Miami-Dade County Public Schools and The CLEO Institute to offer a Climate Design Lab program, July 2-20, for high school students interested in combating climate change.

The Climate Design Lab is a three-week program that includes a competition requiring students to research and design solutions to climate change. Participants will be mentored by professionals in the fields of sea level rise and design and will receive a $600 stipend, lunch, and tools to kick off their 2019 science fair projects.

Applications are available now through June 4. For information or to apply, visit www.vanalen.org/projects/keeping-current.

The Codina Partners, parents, students and teachers gathered at a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the new Downtown Doral Charter Upper School. Head of School Jeannette Acevedo-Isenberg is pictured with students from Downtown Doral Charter Elementary School dressed in the upper school uniform. The new school will welcome students for the 2019-20 school year.
The Codina Partners, parents, students and teachers gathered at a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the new Downtown Doral Charter Upper School. Head of School Jeannette Acevedo-Isenberg is pictured with students from Downtown Doral Charter Elementary School dressed in the upper school uniform. The new school will welcome students for the 2019-20 school year.

Downtown Doral Charter Upper School

The Codina Partners and about 300 parents, students and teachers recently attended a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate Downtown Doral Charter Upper School, the new charter school coming to the Downtown Doral area next school year.

The upper school will be an urban education center, serving grades 6 to 12, that offers a dual-language program featuring Spanish and Portuguese. Math, social studies and science classes will also be taught in both languages. The upper school comes just three years after the 2015 debut of Downtown Doral Charter Elementary School, the first of the Downtown Doral Charter Schools.

Currently, the elementary school is top five in Miami-Dade County.

“After witnessing first-hand the tremendous success of the program at DDCES, learning that this initiative will now expand to the middle and high school levels is nothing short of great news for everyone involved in education in Miami, and particularly, for the children and their families,” said Federico Alonso from the Spanish Education Office, Spanish Consulate, in Miami.

This story was originally published May 29, 2018 at 4:06 PM with the headline "Gables High student places first in youth entrepreneurship challenge."

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